Did they kill it?

[Mixed flock enthusiast]

Beat of luck

I am more then happy to help it as long as I don’t do more harm then good. I’ve had to assist a cat littler and dog litter before. Both times they were new moms that didn’t know what to do when too many babies were born close together.
Ive been trying to figure out when I should help. All three eggs have cracks. Two are hard to see, but they are there. I’ll read that thread and act accordingly. Thank you!

I’ve done a little hatching assistance myself, and we can tag some people who have done a lot of hatching assistance if you run into trouble. Basically, I always go in from the aircell, where you really can’t do harm if the chick is externally pipped. You get the membranes moist with coconut oil so you can see blood vessels, because if you tear membranes with blood vessels then the keet loses blood. If you can see the beak and there are no blood vessels, you can slowly start opening the shell, with the goal being to open just enough for the keet to finish the job. If the beak isn’t visible, it’s a malposition and gets more complicated. If blood vessels are present, then you have to wait until they recede.

 

[My2butterflies]

Membranes were completely dry. All three were both internally pipped and externally pipped. I started at the pip, first making sure the chick wasn’t too close to where I was opening the shell. I think it went great. No blood vessels on the first two, but the third has prominent blood vains. I put coconut oil on all of them and put them back in the incubator to see if they can take it from here. I’m so relieved they are all still alive!

 

[Mixed flock enthusiast]

Membranes were completely dry. All three were both internally pipped and externally pipped. I started at the pip, first making sure the chick wasn’t too close to where I was opening the shell. I think it went great. No blood vessels on the first two, but the third has prominent blood vains. I put coconut oil on all of them and put them back in the incubator to see if they can take it from here. I’m so relieved they are all still alive!
View attachment 2173175View attachment 2173176View attachment 2173177View attachment 2173178View attachment 2173179View attachment 2173180View attachment 2173181

Great to hear that your keets are still with us! I think I may see some blood vessels in the top pictures, are those the ones you are talking about? It’s hard to see the vessels without the coconut oil, so they may look like they’ve receded when they are really just hard to see. Looks like their position is good though with those little beaks poking through! Not sure why they’d be having a hard time getting out, but you can be confident that they can breathe now... Did they seem vigorous when you were opening? I’d just leave them for a while to absorb blood and yolk.

 

[My2butterflies]

Great to hear that your keets are still with us! I think I may see some blood vessels in the top pictures, are those the ones you are talking about? It’s hard to see the vessels without the coconut oil, so they may look like they’ve receded when they are really just hard to see. Looks like their position is good though with those little beaks poking through! Not sure why they’d be having a hard time getting out, but you can be confident that they can breathe now... Did they seem vigorous when you were opening? I’d just leave them for a while to absorb blood and yolk.

The top ones seems to have absorbed their blood vessels, but I don’t want it pull the membrane away if I can help it. They seem to be moving their beaks every now and then so I’m sure they are still absorbing yoke. I’m guessing it must be because the membrane is so dry? Maybe my humidity isn’t high enough? It’s been holding between 60-62% It only dropped to 59% when I removed the chick last night.
Of course I don’t know how long they have been pipped for since I wasn’t ready for them to hatch till weds. My humidity before I realized what was going on was only 35%. I’m sure that probably didn’t help.

 

[My2butterflies]

Oh, the first one seemed to love around more. None of them are actively trying to push out though. I’ll take that to mean they might need more time. I did add more water to bring the humidity up a little.

 

[Mixed flock enthusiast]

Oh, the first one seemed to love around more. None of them are actively trying to push out though. I’ll take that to mean they might need more time. I did add more water to bring the humidity up a little.

I’d you lubricate all of those exposed membranes with the coconut oil, that will keep it from drying. C’mon keets!!!

 

[My2butterflies]

I’d you lubricate all of those exposed membranes with the coconut oil, that will keep it from drying. C’mon keets!!!

Yep! All lubed up and hoping they hatch today!

 

[My2butterflies]

Alright, we are 8hrs out from when I first helped them and there is no change.

 

[My2butterflies]

I decided to help them out a bit more. The membrane started drying again so I applied more oil and took off parts of the shell that weren’t attached to the membrane. Then I did take off a little bit of the membrane that was over it’s face. They were struggling so bad but they were clearly stuck. Once enough was removed so they could wiggle, two finished hatching. The third was still “chewing” And has blood veins still.

Question.
will their toes uncurl on their own? Or will I end up needing to tape their feet?

 

[Mixed flock enthusiast]

Awww, what cuties

I decided to help them out a bit more. The membrane started drying again so I applied more oil and took off parts of the shell that weren’t attached to the membrane. Then I did take off a little bit of the membrane that was over it’s face. They were struggling so bad but they were clearly stuck. Once enough was removed so they could wiggle, two finished hatching. The third was still “chewing” And has blood veins still.
View attachment 2173999View attachment 2174000View attachment 2174001View attachment 2174006

Question.
will their toes uncurl on their own? Or will I end up needing to tape their feet?

Awww, what cuties!!! Maybe look at their feet when you get them out of the incubator to see if walking around a little has straightened them out? If not, you may need to do some splinting...